It is widely argued that NYC has low levels of crime (and anti-gun nuts say "due to gun laws"). My question: does anyone have ANY evidence (please, not just guesses or opinions) that NYC has jimmied with or tampered with its crime statistics; is underreporting gun violence; or is otherwise falsifying the data to try to support this argument?

I don't have anything off-hand right now, but there was a great article in a New York City magazine or newspaper on this subject a few years ago. I have to give credit where credit was due, since it was a left-leaning publication (either the Village Voice or New Yorker, but pulled no punches in exposing the outright misinformation from the city's police bureaucracy.

The author of the article was motivated to write it after he witnessed the aftermath of a homicide in the subway but then spent weeks following up on it with the police department without ever finding any evidence that it was ever reported and documented in their records.

I hope this is helpful. I will try to track that article down when I have time.

“Years ago (over 10 maybe 20 years, IIRC) Atlanta was cited by the FBI as having fudged on their murder crime rates. In effect what they did was illegal and intentional.It involved in re-classifying murders (or deaths) into other lesser status crimes.”

Mayor Marion Barry did the same for DC. In one year it went from the most dangerous city in America to one of the safest. Murders became suicides or accidents. Apparently the statistics are all self-reported.

I've seen stats (can't recall their source) that suggest that on a per capita basis NYC has a noticeably lower murder rate (the only stats I've seen were for murder rate) than just about any other large of medium sized US city.Any claims that Doomberg & Pals might make that it's because of strict gun laws is silly.Vermont,a neighboring state,has very lax guns laws (surprisingly enough).Virginia,not that far down the road,does as well.One thing I've repeatedly heard is that, starting with Giuliani,the NYPD has had a policy of aggressively addressing small crimes which,it's said,somehow lessens serious crimes.I'm not a criminologist so I'm not sure how that might work,but...

6
posted on 06/22/2013 6:57:04 AM PDT
by Gay State Conservative
(The Civil Servants Are No Longer Servants...Or Civil.)

I don’t know the answer to your question, but I will share an impression.

I lived in Brooklyn or Manhattan until 1980, and I have visited frequently since.

The changes in the first two years of the Giuliani administration were real, and they were enormous. There was some washover into the early 2000s, because a lot of bad guys were still Upstate, as we say.

It’s getting worse again, and pretty quickly - but NYC is nothing like the nearly all-black cities of the midwest and southeast, crime wise, and probably will never be. Brooklyn is gentrifying in places I never would have thought it could happen.

The ‘FBI Uniform Crime Report (for each year)’ is the standard by which police crime statistics are collated and arrainged by state-by-state .
I am unsure if the statistics are broken down by metropolitan or urban areas .

9
posted on 06/22/2013 7:05:38 AM PDT
by Tilted Irish Kilt
(Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. - Ronald Reagan)

My understanding is that stats are as accurate as they can be and if anything, they overstate the homicide rate to include people who have died from homicides that occurred in prior years (i.e., deaths previously classified in prior years as accidental are reclassified as homicides; assault and DUI victims who die from their injuries in later years. The crime stats are also consistent with my personal observations over the years.

As soon as Pataki signed the death penalty in 1995 after Cuomo vetoed it 12 years in a row, the homicide rate dropped in half.

Mario Cuomo has the blood of 15,000 murdered New Yorkers on his hands.

Giuliani doubled the size of the cops and told them to take down the homicidal maniacs standing around that where obviously packing (you don't have to be a rocket scientist to tell).

The commies complained, but the streets were safer.

Now with King anal soda pop in Gracie Mansion and Cuoumo II in Albany, you would have to be not very bright to live in NYC unless you have a Death Wish.

But former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, who vetoed 12 death penalty bills before Mr. Pataki defeated him last year, said of the new law: "This is a step back in what should be a march constantly toward a higher level of civility and intelligence. The argument that the death penalty will deter and reduce crimes has been abandoned almost everywhere."

The table below provides the rank of each State's reported rate of crime as compared to the 50 States and the District of Columbia. 1 = the highest reported crime rate and 51 = the lowest. Going from one year to the next a higher number means, that compared to other States, the relative crime rate is increasing and a lower number means that the relative level of crime is decreasing. The Index category represents the total number of crimes, and since most crimes involve property crime it is weighted towards these types of crime.

The NYT has a treasure trove of stats on an interactive map. You can drill into it and filter it six ways from Sunday. I made a screen cap of this page last year. Go to the NYT for this date, and the map should still be up.

Whenever you come across a situation like this you simply have to look for the broader financial angle. If cities have a financial incentive to "reduce crime," they will under-report crime. In other circumstances, there might be a huge incentive to over-report something -- which explains why an organization like MADD reports statistics based on "alcohol-related accidents" that have nothing to do with drunk driving.

... the NYPD has had a policy of aggressively addressing small crimes which,it's said,somehow lessens serious crimes.I'm not a criminologist so I'm not sure how that might work,but...

The approach is actually pretty simple. There are two parts to it:

1. Arrest someone for jumping a turnstile or spraying graffiti on the side of a building, and you now have the perpetrator's fingerprints to run through a police database of unsolved crimes.

2. Even if the fingerprint doesn't match the records from any unsolved crimes, you now have a new set of fingerprints on record to identify the perpetrator if he ever commits a crime later. There was a high-profile rape/assault case in Central Park back in the 1990s that was solved this way.

I think you are expressing it wrong. I wouldn’t say New York City has “low levels of crime.” Say something like, New York City has low levels of crime compared to previous decades or something like that.

One thing I've repeatedly heard is that, starting with Giuliani,the NYPD has had a policy of aggressively addressing small crimes which,it's said,somehow lessens serious crimes.I'm not a criminologist so I'm not sure how that might work,but...

Whites(37%)and blacks(35%)accounted for higher percentages of rapists than Hispanics (23%). Blacks accounted for 54% of robbers, twice the percentage of Hispanics(27%)and about 3 times that of whites (17%).

Blacks (39%) accounted for about two-fifths of those convicted of felony assault, compared to about a third who were Hispanic (32%), and a fourth who were white (26%).

Blacks (55%) comprised a majority of the violent felons who were under age 18. Blacks accounted for about two-fifths of the total in each age category from 21 through 34.

Whites accounted for 13% of the violent felons under age 18. The percentage of whites rose in each successive age category, and was about the same as for blacks in the 35 to 39 age category, and slightly higher in the 40 or older category.

22
posted on 06/22/2013 7:59:23 AM PDT
by PapaBear3625
(You don't notice it's a police state until the police come for you.)

The falsifying of the crime stats starting in January of 1993 was related to Clinton's firing of the US Attorney's to cover up police corruption.

In 1991 with the R King case, Bush ordered a review of all complaints filed against police with the FBI for the previous 5 years. There were something around 15,000 complaints and only 42 cases had been pursued in court.

The Bent One’s ordering his Arkansas state troopers to racial profile was one of the 42. With the settlement of the suite Clinton agreed to stop the racial profiling, but he didn't.

After the LA riots of 1992, the FBI said there was nothing in the 15,000 FBI files so Bush then ordered the US Attorney's to review the complaints.

After almost 2 years of the dems. having an all out campaign against police because of R King, the Chief of Police Union and the Police Officers Union supported Clinton for president.

Leading up to the 1992 election the dems kept pushing for Bush to release the content of the 15,000 FBI files, but Bush never did.

When Reno was nominated for AG, she said if she was confirmed the first thing she would do was release the content of the FBI files.

When Reno was confirmed as AG, instead of releasing the content of the 15,000 FBI files, Reno fired all the US Attorneys to cover up what was in the files. No one paid any attention because everyone was too busy watching the Clintons kill 80 people at Waco.

The falsifying of the records was the payoff to Clinton by the unions for covering up police corruption.

The way police are able to get away with covering up the corruption, built right into the police union contract is a nice little clause, if the person filing the complaint against the police officer is “obviously intoxicated” the complaint against the officer doesn’t have to be accepted, it can be ignored.

Police can do pretty much what they wanted and simply claim the victim is intoxicated.

I’m not making an argument at all. I’m referring you to a very handy NY crime stats interactive map, for you to use if it’s helpful. While doing so, I included the snapshot screencap I made last year. If it’s not helpful to your research, that’s fine too, but it’s available.

It's not as if there are two sets of stats reported: actual and claimed. You should remember, if faking crime stats is true, exposing it is going to be controversial. It may take you a bit of digging, but here's a place for you to start (if you're interested). Good luck.

Nicholas Stix lives in NYC area and writes extensively on violent crime.

Here's a quote (not his but is in an article which he cites - scroll down at the link): Patrolmen's Benevolent Association president Patrick Lynch had said that officers "are forced to falsify stats in order to maintain the appearance of a drastic reduction in crime,"

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